Books Read - 2004

Last modified:
Sunday, 14 August, 2016

My
recent, current, and forthcoming reading is covered elsewhere,
here's what I read in 2004:

Alexander McCall Smith: The No.
1 Ladies' Detective Agency

The world's introduction to Precious Ramotswe is a light, entertaining
collection of stories. McCall Smith's writing slips down easily and the
people and places in the tales are brought to life with a few, knowingly
humorous,
words.

Desmond Morris: Catwatching

A book about cat behaviour by the zoologist famous for his popular studies
of homo sapiens. Organised in a question and answer format, this
book covers a lot of ground, not all of it well-worn. Cat lovers who want
to know more about why their pet behaves as it does will find this an enjoyable
and informative read. I did.

Terry Pratchett: The Last Continent

Pratchett's "Australian" novel continues the adventures of inept
wizard Rincewind from the end of Interesting Times. The people
and places of a, literally, young country are portrayed with affection.
The ambiguous aura surrounding events in XXXX contrasts oddly with with
the interleaved jokey scenes in the familiar setting of Unseen University.

Dan Brown: The Da Vinci Code

Murder mystery thriller that touches on the history of religion, art,
architecture and secret societies. The plot twists and turns as you'd expect
and the pace never relents. A fun read that gains much from the background
and locations invoked.

Lynne Truss: Eats, Shoots & Leaves

A book about punctuation for those of us who still care. A handy guide
to commas, apostrophes and the rest.

Stuart Prebble: Grumpy Old Men

Of course, I never saw the TV programme from which this is derived but,
as I'm a fairly typical example of the species, I enjoyed the verve and
verbal skill of the rants against the irritations of life in Britain today.
Prebble and the celebrity grumpies from the TV programme (who he quotes
extensively) are eloquent and very funny but the underlying dissatisfaction
with the world in which we find ourselves is real and worth taking a closer
look at.

Richard Schlegel: Time and the
Physical World

An introduction to the nature of time and the implications that the descriptions
of the world provided by quantum mechanics and relativity theory have for
our understanding of time.

Jane Fletcher: Lorimal's Chalice

A delightful fantasy novel that packs a host of fascinating incident and
invention into an unusual variation on the traditional quest scenario.
As with Rowling's most recent,
the wealth of realistic detail makes reading this book a deeply satisfying,
immersive experience. I lingered for months reading this book so
that I could really savour its wonderful atmosphere and spend as long as
possible
in the company of its two delightful central characters.

Terry Pratchett: Jingo

A novel about going to war being a damaged personality's response
to frustration and anger. For Pratchett to write this story in 1997 and
for almost every page to resonate so strongly with events of 2003, goes
to show that what's
happening in Iraq now has roots that go far further back than 11th September,
2001. In his now-typical style, after three quarters of the book using
the Discworld characters to take a sideways look at a real-world issue,
Pratchett turns things on their head by providing a thoroughly Discworld
solution.

Nicola Barker: Wide Open

The setting of this novel is the obscure Isle of Sheppey, where my family
(on both sides) comes from. Knowing the landscape depicted helps makes
a difficult book more accessible but this deeply disturbing story with
its profoundly troubled cast is far from easy reading.

Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped

The classic tale of the innocent who becomes embroiled in the Scots resistance
to the English oppressors in the time after Culloden.

Bill Smith: The Curious Mr Jones

First novel by my ex-boss at Nortel. Everybody underestimates Mr Jones;
generally not a good thing to do. This is a short but satisfyingly complex
tale written from a detached, somewhat cinematic point of view that suits
the material perfectly. The plot is well constructed, the characters fairly
stock, the writing taut. More please!

J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix

Daunting in size but utterly irresistible as the most recent installment
of the most popular children's fantasy series ever. Even more so than Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire, this book luxuriates in the truthful
detail of the human experiences depicted and has the reader so enthralled
that the twists and turns of the plot are utterly compelling. Where the
events of the previous episode were fantastic and extraordinary, what happens
this time around is so rooted in real life experience (in all its messy
complexity) that the most sophisticated adult reader cannot fail to be
captivated. Rowling is a master story teller with an eye for the telling
detail and the truthful depiction of just how human emotions find (or fail
to find) expression in word and deed. The large cast of characters truly
comes to life in her hands. Triumphant.

Simon Winchester: Outposts

The outposts of the title are the surprisingly numerous, if unsurprisingly
scattered and tiny, remaining territories across the globe that still have
the status of British Colony. Aside from the places that have been newsworthy
in recent years (Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands) the rest are typically
sleepy islands in mid-ocean with little going for them in the way of economy
and little likelihood of changing status. A rather sad collection of leftovers.
The writing is wonderfully evocative of place and local attitudes, with
none of the flabby padding that wearied the reader of The
Map That Changed the World. A fascinating read!

Graham Swift: Waterland

A thrilling tour de force of a novel! Swift captures perfectly
the fenland atmosphere and the people it breeds. Jumping back and forth
over many generations
we're gradually shown a historical context for the foreground events of
the mid-twentieth century. Compelling and rewarding reading that brings
alive a large cast of fenland characters and makes manifest their motivations.

Jeremy Paxman: The English

Paxman takes on the question of what made the English the kind of people
we are. In particular, from where do the manifest differences between the
English and their Celtic fellow Britons and their European neighbours stem.
In addressing this question he considers history, geography, race and politics;
all of which seem to have a bearing on the issue. As a survey of the factors
that may have had an influence, this is an entertaining and interesting
read and the occasional muddle and contradiction is excusable in a book
that makes no claims to intellectual rigour. Highly recommended for anyone
interested in the topic, and especially helpful for foreigners who have
to deal with English people: appreciation of the material Paxman covers
can only help smooth the wheels of intercourse.

J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire

The series that got kids reading again hits volume four, with a doubling
of page count (compared to the previous
book) that speaks volumes for the
author's confidence in her audience. Incident comes thick and fast as Harry
and
his pals, by
now
fully
established
at Hogwarts, deal with their most complex and ambiguous adventure to date.
First rate writing to captivate adults and children alike.